John austin Hollywood 'A' listers Dennis Hopper and John Leguizamo ride George Romero's coat tails with mediocre results in the fourth installment of the Dead series. The plot seems like an afterthought after the first three. Here, an established colony faces life in a zombie infested world. They play the class warfare card throughout- positioning different characters in different social classes and portraying the zombies themselves as the ultimate "have nots" in the new society. So, George Romero and Company have definitely entered the post modern identity politics conflict. Man has become the prime villain again in this one with Dennis Hopper exploiting the masses for his own personal gain.Our zombies are evolving in this one as well, with some starting to show signs of cognitive thought. Interesting idea, but we didn't really have to go there to freshen this up.

Michael_Elliott Land of the Dead (2005) *** (out of 4)Years after the zombie outbreaks has occurred, the rich Kaufman (Dennis Hopper) developed a sky scrapper where if you were rich enough you could live there. The community is surrounded by walls to keep the people safe from the zombies but when one worker (John Leguizamo) is refused a chance to live there he soon threatens the safety of those inside.After the box office failure of DAY OF THE DEAD it really wasn't certain if George A. Romero would ever make a zombie film but he came back with this one, which was made for a studio. It's really remarkable at how well this movie did with both fans, critics and the box office but revisiting it years later it's safe to say that it has stood the test of time and remains of gory shocker with the typical Romero political nature.Obviously the film was a dead aim at the Iraq war with one of the main points being made is that the zombies weren't hurting anyone and they really weren't doing any harm until people started to harm them. The early scenes of the zombies doing their own thing are then cut with a group of soldiers basically shooting them from sport. From here we get the Hopper characters, a George Bush wannabe, who wants to control everything. While the message here isn't nearly as strong as NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD or DAWN OF THE DEAD, it's still here and gives the film a bit more subtext than your average zombie movie.If you're viewing the film in its unrated form then you're going to get all sorts of brutal and graphic zombie attacks. While the special effects aren't as great as Tom Savini's work in DAY OF THE DEAD, what we get here is still pretty good. There are all sorts of flesh- munching going on and there is more blood spilled here than any of the films in the series. The film is also technically well- made with some great cinematography, an effective music score and there's no question that Romero does quite well handling the action scenes.The cast is also an interesting one as Romero has some familiar faces to work with with. Simon Baker gets the lead role and I thought he was fine in it and helped carry the picture. You've got Asia Argento who is always fun to look at and watch. Leguizamo plays pretty much a punk we've seen him play in other films but he too is a lot of fun. It was great getting to see Hopper here but there's no question that he's kinda wasted and it's really too bad he didn't get to give a more energetic performance because his character is just way too laid back for him.LAND OF THE DEAD turned out to be a very good film for the series. While it's doubtful too many will place it above the three previous movies it's still worthy to be in the same series and of course would lead to two more films.

Patrick Nackaert Looking for an average zombie movie? You'll be pleasantly surprised. The movie has a few interesting aspects. Acting is reasonably good - thanks to the talented cast. The scenery is authentic and realistic. The film is well-written, resulting in a decent number of story lines. Many scenes are inventive and nice to look at.Because the film takes place a long time after the zombie outbreak, the most annoying zombie movie mistake is avoided: people acting in the movie have never seen a zombie movie. Usually it takes half a film for the characters to realise there is an outbreak. Not of all that in this one.The story in two sentences: a businessman built a safe city after a zombie apocalypse. However, zombies become intelligent and this starts to threaten the city. One big minus: the uncountable number of inconsistencies. Why do you put loud headphones on when you're waiting for someone in Zombieland? Why do zombies play tuba? Why do people shoot in the air with limited bullets? Why don't you cut someone's leg/arm when it's infected? And I still don't get the walkie-talkie system where you don't have to choose who you're calling. On top of it all, a soldier going to the ground infested with zombies, when he could have stayed safely in his tower. That's where it got painfully hilarious.An above-average zombie movie - if you're not too much bothered by inconsistencies.

NateWatchesCoolMovies The zombie genre is filled to the brim with countless entries, each attempting to brand their style with a new outlook and imaginative theme to fight for a spot in out positive memory. Land Of The Dead, a 2004 effort, shakes out its sleeves and brings us an enjoyable concept, peppy, likable characters, a world all its own and charming zombies who end up being characters of their own, instead of endless hordes. Then again, it's directed by genre pioneer George A. Romero, so I expect nothing less. The setting is Chicago, many years after an outbreak, when the dust has began to settle. The rich and affluent live in swanky protected high rise Fiddler's Green, presided over by demented CEO Kaufman (Dennis Hopper). The poor live as plebians in a surrounding slum, and the zombies gather outside the city, kept at bay by a barricade. Regular supply runs into the hostile zone are spearheaded by level minded Riley (Simon Baker), and volatile hothead Cholo (John Leguizamo). Fairly soon the zombies, who it seems still have a modicum of brains left in their head (or just feral instinct) form a posse, and use their strength by numbers to attack the human stronghold. The charming opening sequence shows them haplessly trying to recreate the routines and activities they had as humans, musical instruments, filling gas tanks etc., bogged down by their animalistic affliction. It's an inspired scene, only made more fascinating when a combat vehicle trundles through and shoots a bunch of them. The others scream in fury at the humans in a way that seems almost vaguely... human. So they muster the undead Rohirrim and slowly but surely make their way to the 'civilized' city to raise all hell. Riley and his socially awkward sharpshooter pal Charlie (Robert Joy) team up with tough street girl Slack (Asia Argento) and attempt to high tail it out of town, up to remote Canada. Cholo has plans of his own, trying to manipulate and strong arm Kaufman into giving him a suite at The Green. When the zombies show up, all plans go out the window, forcing all parties into action to defend the city from the relentless undead. There's all kinds of re purposed tanks and army vehicles involved in the fun, and any kind of weapon you can imagine to decimate them. The film looks slick as hell, with clearly a ton of effort put into both creature and costume design. Baker makes a stalwart hero, Argento is sizzling as always and fires up the screen with her inky persona, and Hopper hams it up to kingdom come, riffing on the abrasive Donald Trump archetype. It's Leguizamo, however who steals the show, as usual. He gives Cholo a streetsmart, diamond hard edge and coal black, pissy sense of humour, walking a playful line between hero and outright asshole. Romero directs with a colorful sense of social satire, and yet never lets it get in the way. The zombies steal the show, and aren't just fleshy scenery fpr people to blast apart, but amusing caricatures all their own. One of my favourites in the undead genre.